President Trump on Monday will visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and deliver remarks at Arlington Cemetery to commemorate Memorial Day.
The president will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a somber annual tradition for presidents, and one Mr. Trump participated in during his first term as president.
Early Monday, Mr. Trump posted a message on his social media platform Truth Social about Memorial Day, writing in all caps that he wished a “happy Memorial Day to all,” including the “scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds.” He went on to target immigration policies and accused “USA-hating judges who suffer from an ideology that is sick, and very dangerous for our country” of protecting criminals.
Memorial Day honors those who died in uniform as a result of battle. Since the Revolutionary War, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates more than 650,000 U.S. military personnel have died in battle.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, completed in 1932, to represent the burial site of a soldier from World War I whose remains could not be identified. Unknown remains from later wars were added in 1958 and 1984.
Earlier this month, the president proclaimed on Truth Social that the U.S. will designate new holidays to commemorate the end of World War I and World War II in Europe.
“All over the World, the Allies are celebrating the Victory we had in World War II. The only Country that doesn’t celebrate is the United States of America, and the Victory was only accomplished because of us,” Mr. Trump said in that post.
“I am hereby declaring a National Holiday in celebration of the Victories of World War I, where the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and World War II, where the Victory date was May 8, 1945,” he wrote.
Nov. 11 is already a federal holiday, known as Veterans Day. May, 8, 1945, is generally known as Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, since the war in the Pacific lasted until the Japanese surrended, which was announced on August 14, 1945.
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
The post Trump to lay wreath at Arlington National Cemetery to mark Memorial Day appeared first on CBS News.
